Passport renewal on line!

  • Snowball's Avatar
    Needing to renew our recently expired passports, I decided to do it on line. Followed all the advice for providing a digital photo, only to get this rejected after uploading. I produced our previous two lots of passports using a conventional Nikon SLR camera with no problems at all.
    Amateur photography used to be one of my hobbies, so I thought using the recommended smart phone or tablet would be a doddle.
    Ha, ha! The automatic response to my upload gave a cross at every stage of the process.
    (1) Too low quality - my photo was still pin-sharp at full screen on my 21" monitor.
    (2) Photo should be between 50 Kb and 10 Mb - mine is 116 Kb
    (3) 'Cannot see the shape of your head. Smooth down hair' - My hair is grey and cropped short. No loose hair to smooth down.
    (4) 'Use cream or grey background and natural daylight if possible' - I set up our pale grey sun canopy on clothes line and took photo outdoors in bright daylight.

    I tried both Samsung tablet and Apple iPhone but got negative results for both.
    If my hair is a problem (ref: can't see shape of head), what about my wife? Hers is grey, tinted blonde, and styled. I thought the photo had to represent what would be seen at a passport check! The website example is a woman with dark hair, centrally parted, long and close to her head. What percentage of women look like that.

    Doubts? It says this is a new service and "feedback" would be helpful. Well, they got feedback - if it is ever read. The programmer certainly needs a few lessons on digital photography and hair colour/profile variations.
    Another typical half-**** government "service", what!
  • 14 Replies

  • Santa's Avatar
    Looking around I see lots of people complaining about this, since January when it was first tried. Many complain that the reasons for rejection seem to be completely arbitrary and inconsistent.

    Rules for digital passport photos
    Make sure your photo meets these rules. If it doesn’t, you may have problems with your application or when you travel.

    We’ll crop the photo for you
    To do this correctly, photos must:

    include your full head, shoulders and upper body
    have lots of clear space around your head and shoulders
    be taken against a plain, light coloured background
    not have any shadows on your face or behind you

    In your photo
    You must:

    be facing forward and looking straight at the camera
    have a plain expression and your mouth closed
    have your eyes open and visible
    not have hair covering your eyes
    not have any headwear (unless it’s for religious or medical reasons)
    Don’t wear sunglasses or tinted glasses. If you wear reading glasses that you can’t take off, your eyes must be visible without any glare or reflections.

    Photo quality
    Photos must be:

    in focus without any shadows
    in colour without any effects or filters
    at least 600 pixels wide and 750 pixels tall
    at least 50kb and no more than 10mb

    The website gives examples: https://www.passport.service.gov.uk/help/photo-rules
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Yep, followed all the rules to meet the requirements for the digital photo. After the 'automatic' processing, it reproduces the actual cropped photo on screen, then tells all the reasons why it isn't acceptable. Problem is, the resultant photo looks very good, and is better than the photo on my recently expired passport.
    Reckon I'll have to go into town and get it done at a photo booth. I am told that there is one where a woman actually takes the photo for you (no DIY stuff in a little hidey-hole), but it is £10 - so £20 for the two of us. Not too bad considering it lasts for ten years.

    Not surprised by the comment about lots of complaints!

    Ha, ha! Had to edit - found that the ruddy predictive text had changed 'automatic' to auto manic. Manic depression might have fit the bill!
  • 98selitb's Avatar
    Interesting - I renewed my passport online in June 2017, and I was never prompted about digital photos. I did the form online, printed it, and was told to send a normal passport-sized photo with the form, and there was no issue. From the sound of it, I got lucky.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    We want to get the ferry and where we are staying confirmed before the new year. I suppose it isn't a gamble to do this before getting our new passports, considering the amount of time between now and the beginning of May 2018.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Ha! Just had a reply from HMPPO. Apparently not enough identity provided - data protection and all that.
    So sent them full details of myself, including number of my recently expired passport. Also, now knowing that they actually read feedback, I replied with a more detailed version of where I think their 'service' is a failure.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Yesterday had another email from HMPO, asking me to send my expired passport, photo and a covering letter about my problem to their customer services team. Now so close to Christmas that I am doing this immediately after the New Year.
    Have to say that they are being very helpful in this matter - nice to meet a Gov. dept. that is interested in people.
  • ficklejade's Avatar
    I'm glad they're trying to be helpful, Snowball. My son's renewal was horrendously difficult! It wasn't the photo but the limitations on who can countersign the photo. We'd been here less than two years when my son's passport needed renewal so no-one was eligible. I had over a two hour discussion with the Passport Office and the person I spoke to was, quite frankly, incapable of understanding the problem. We'd only been in our previous home for 2.5 years and my son had only seen the Dr. once and his teachers weren't co-operative. It took my MP to sort out a solution.

    Nor did the issues end there! The next time his passport needed renewal, the only people left were people who don't have passports. In the last seven years, we've had one Dr. who's been here for a year and every time you go to see the Dr. (not often) it's a different locum; our solicitor has only met my son once and so on. The two polis officers, whom we, like everyone else here, knew well and were on good terms with - one had tragically died and the other was seconded elsewhere. Again, it took nearly a year to renew a passport when a renewal applied for when the current one was still in date.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    That sounds worrying. Tomorrow we are booking the ferry and our stay at our chosen holiday campsite, with the passport situation to be sorted afterwards. Planned travel isn't until mid-May, so did not think this would be a problem. For one of our previous passport applications, we used our next door neighbour - a civil servant working for Customs and Excise. He is now retired, so can he still be used as a reference?
  • 98selitb's Avatar
    OK, now I am rather confused. Both my wife and I have renewed our passports online in the last year, and neither of us had to get anyone else to countersign anything, and they both came through fine.

    Edit: now I see why - according to gov.uk, you only need it countersigned if it's:

    first adult passport
    first child passport
    replacement for a lost, stolen or damaged passport
    renewal of a passport for a child aged 11 or under
    renewal of a passport if your appearance has changed and you can’t be recognised from your existing passport
  • Snowball's Avatar
    Although I have the facilities to take our own photos, I am not bothering with the hassle. Our daughter and family have their passport photos taken at a facility close to where they live - the task is done by a woman who charges £10 per person. Only £20 for the two of us - not much for 10 years of validity. Reasonably local to us, so that's what we will do.
    Countersigning - Not sure about "if your appearance has changed and you can't be recognised from your existing passport". Don't think there is much change from age 70 to age 80, but different people have different opinions on 'change'.
    If all else fails we will visit passport office itself in Peterborough - only about 45 miles from us, and most of the journey on A47, so hardly a chore.
  • ficklejade's Avatar
    Our passport photos are done at our pharmacy - £5 for four and, if the photo isn't accepted by the Passport Office, you get another lot done for free.
  • Snowball's Avatar
    In the end we went to a professional photographer and she did them at our studio (our daughter has used her). Six photos for each of us for £15, and free repeat if they were rejected - can't see why they would be, though.
  • Steve126's Avatar
    tell me, can someone know the same price for the form https://ds11.pdffiller.com/? I just need for a child to take a passport photo and I want to ask the price that I would understand how much the entire design will cost. need to be prepared for unforeseen expenses
  • Motman's Avatar
    That’s for a US passport. Why are you asking that question on a UK based forum?